King Kong (Universal)
|weight= |hair=Black |eye=Brown |status=Deceased |allies=Ann Darrow |enemies=''Vastatosaurus rex'' Terapusmordax U.S. Military |createdby=Merian C. Cooper |portrayedby=Andy Serkis |roar= |firstappearance=''King Kong'' |lastappearance=''King Kong'' }} The Universal Pictures King Kong is a giant ape created by RKO Pictures that first appeared in 2005 film, King Kong. Design Appearance Kong resembles a giant muscular Silverback gorilla. Unlike many of his counterparts, this version of Kong only walks on all fours and barely stands upright. Universal's Kong displayed many scars throughout his body, the most prominent being near his right eye, which seems to have a collapsed eye socket. He also has a misaligned lower jaw and a snaggletooth that sometimes protrudes from his mouth even when it is closed. Some of his teeth appear to be broken. Portrayal For the 2005 film, Kong is portrayed by Andy Serkis via motion capture. Roar In the 2005 remake, Kong's motion-capture actor Andy Serkis provided vocalizations for Kong that were then lowered in pitch to match those of a real gorilla, and then mixed with various other animal sounds. Personality In all of his appearances, Kong is portrayed as a tragic and sympathetic monster. Kong lives a very solitary and difficult existence, constantly being attacked by the vicious giant creatures that live on his island. Kong rarely attacks unless provoked, and is capable of causing mass destruction due to his size and strength, which causes human beings to fear and attack him. Kong has a soft spot for human women, and will do anything to protect a woman that he likes, whether it be battling against another monster or battling military forces. Kong demonstrates at least semi-sapience in all of his film appearances. He frequently utilizes environmental objects while fighting, and learns over the course of a battle. In the 2005 film, Kong repeated the sign for "beautiful" to Ann Darrow, who had shown it to him earlier, showing just how intelligent he is. Origins In the 2005 remake, Kong is among the last living members of a giant species of ape that lives on the mysterious Skull Island, which is inhabited by other giant creatures as well as a tribe of natives that worship him as a god. Supplementary materials for the 2005 film reveal that Kong is the last member of a species called Megaprimatus kong, which likely descended from Gigantopithecus, the largest primate to ever live, rather than gorillas. History In 1976, a federal judge ruled that the character and film rights to King Kong (aside from the 1933 film, which belonged to RKO, and the 1976 film and its sequel, which belonged to De Laurentiis and Paramount) belonged to Merian C. Cooper's estate, and the majority of the rights to King Kong reverted to Cooper's son, Richard. Cooper almost immediately sold all of his rights to Universal Pictures, who retains them to this day. Universal considered producing their own remake of the 1933 film in the late 1990s, but the releases of a remake of Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla in 1998 caused them to postpone it. Universal finally produced a remake in 2005, which was financially and critically successful. In 2014, Universal entered a legal partnership with Legendary Pictures, and the two companies began production on a new film, Kong: Skull Island, set for a 2017 release, however in 2015 Legendary moved the production from Universal to its previous partner, Warner Bros. ''King Kong'' King Kong, possibly the last living member of a species of gigantic apes called Megaprimatus kong, was living on Skull Island in 1933, when a film crew led by Carl Denham arrived on a ship called the Venture to shoot a film. The natives of the island did not take kindly to the film crew's presence, and attacked them when they set foot on the island, killing a member of the expedition. The crew returned to the Venture and remained on board, debating whether or not to return to the island and continue shooting. At night, the natives used small boats to get onto the Venture and kidnapped Ann Darrow, the leading lady. They brought her back to their village on the island and attempted to sacrifice her to their god, Kong. Kong soon emerged from the jungle and grabbed the terrified Ann, then took her away into the jungle. The film crew ran onto the island to rescue Ann and followed Kong into the jungle. Kong took Ann to his lair, where she saw the remains of several of Kong's previous sacrifices. Ann tried to get free but to no avail. Ann tried to distract Kong by dancing, which caused Kong to laugh. When Ann became tired and refused to perform anymore, Kong stormed off angrily. Kong then encountered the search party crossing a log bridge spanning a ravine. Kong grabbed the bridge and twisted it, sending the party falling into the chasm below, where most of them were killed by gigantic insects. Jack Driscoll managed to escape from the pit and climb to the other side of the ravine, then continued pursuing Kong. While Kong was gone, Ann tried to run away but found herself being pursued by a Foetodon, a giant crocodile. Ann ran from it, only to witness the Foetodon being eaten by a Vastatosaurus rex, the modern descendant of the Tyrannosaurus. The V. rex then chased Ann and was joined by another member of its kind. Kong arrived just in time and tried to fight the V. rexes off. A third V. rex entered the battle and the odds were turned against Kong. Kong incapacitated one of the V. rexes, but the other two continued relentlessly attacking him and Ann. Eventually, Kong and the two remaining V. rexes fell over a cliff and into a thick layer of vines. Kong grappled with the V. rexes, causing one to become entangled and trapped in the vines. Kong grabbed Ann and fell from the vines to the ground. One of the V. rexes followed them and continued its attack. Kong fought with the V. rex once again, and this time gained the upper hand. Kong restrained the V. rex and pried its jaws apart until they snapped, killing it. Ann, grateful for Kong saving her life, allowed herself to be taken by Kong back to his mountain lair. Kong set Ann down in his lair and sat on a ledge overlooking the sunset. Ann approached Kong and tried to communicate with him using sign language. Suddenly, they were attacked by a swarm of Terapusmordax, giant bats. As Kong fought the bats off, Jack arrived in Kong's lair and found Ann. The two of them began rappelling down a vine to escape, but Kong noticed and tried to grab them. Ann and Jack jumped from the vine into the water below. Enraged, Kong stormed off from his lair and tried to reach the water below. Jack and Ann retreated to the village, where Carl and the remaining members of the expedition were waiting. Kong arrived and broke down the wall. The crew used chloroform bombs to subdue Kong, knocking him unconscious on the shore. Denham decided to bring Kong back to New York and display him as "The Eighth Wonder of the World." Kong was taken back to New York onboard the Venture, and was placed in chrome steel chains and put on display inside a Broadway theater. As the crowds were stunned by Kong and photographers aggressively took pictures of him, Kong became agitated. He broke free from his chains and grabbed the actress pretending to be Ann. Realizing she was a fake, he tossed her aside and tore through the theater, eventually emerging out into the streets of New York. Kong overturned cars and smashed lampposts in rage, searching for Ann. Witnessing the destruction Kong was causing because of her, Ann walked into the open near Kong and allowed him to pick her up again. Kong calmed down and took Ann to Central Park, where he slid on a frozen lake. As Kong began to regain his footing, he was thrown forward when a tank shell blasted the ice. With the military pursuing him, Kong fled to the Empire State Building and climbed it. After reaching the top of the building, Kong sat and looked out over the sunrise. He looked at Ann and made the sign for "beautiful," showing that he understood and remembered the sign she showed him earlier. The peace was interrupted when a group of biplanes armed with machine guns flew near the building and opened fire on Kong. Kong set Ann down and roared defiantly at the planes. He swatted at them and managed to destroy some of them. Unfortunately for Kong, the gunfire was too much and he began to succumb to his wounds. Kong slumped over the top of the tower and looked at Ann sorrowfully, then slid off of the building and plummeted to his death in the streets below. As crowds gathered around Kong's colossal corpse, someone remarked that the airplanes got Kong. Carl Denham sorrowfully said that it wasn't the airplanes, as "It was beauty killed the beast." Abilities Intelligence Kong is remarkably intelligent. He makes use of environmental objects like trees or rocks when fighting, as seen when he utilized rocks to crush a V. rex's thick skull with ease, and also when he used a tree to carry his momentum into a strike to momentarily stun another rex. Kong also demonstrated the ability to understand and use sign language to Ann. Physical strength Kong's strength remains a key part to his success within the film, as shown when he's able to remain on even footing with, and eventually able to defeat the island's largest predatory dinosaurs, despite being outnumbered and having to ensure Ann's survival at the same time. Sharp teeth Kong's teeth are remarkably sharp, as he was able to bite a V. Rex's shoulder during his fight and bite and rip off the tongue of another. Weaknesses Modern weaponry Kong ended up being wounded by and eventually succumbed to modern human weapon machine guns mounted on planes, given the weapon's stopping power and penetrative ability, however, Kong was able to withstand the hail of bullets for long enough to destroy a few of the planes attacking him. Category:King Kong (2005 film): Kaiju Category:King Kong Category:Ape Kaiju Category:Animals Category:Kongs Category:Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie: Kaiju Category:Mammal Kaiju